Lenny the bobcat

[kari_dawn]

I inadvertently hyjacked a thread by someone about their adorable kitties playing in a shallow bathtub of water by posting a picture of my "kitty" lounging in a shallow pool. So, I figured I would start a thread about the one and only Lenny the bobcat.

 

[BrattishTaz]

I saw his pic on the other thread. I am glad you started this one. He is too cute not to share.

 

[kari_dawn]

he is a doll...if you are me

he is kindof a poo to everyone else...

 

[gaited horse]

Awwww He's a big kitty.

 

[kari_dawn]

Yep, he is super big for a member of the southern sub-species...they get bigger and beefier the further up north you go. He gets HUGE in the winter time. They aren't as interested in food in the hot summer months.

 

[gaited horse]

Quote:
What does he eat?
I am almost sure a couple cans of cat food is not enough for him

 

[kari_dawn]

ha ha not even close...a happy predatory cat is one that isn't hungry! Bobcats eat about two pounds of meat a day...depending on the weather, they can eat more. Ours get as much whole natural diet as we can get either donated or purchased (which, purchased is rarely, because we are non-profit, and lately, there aren't a lot of donations out there).

We found a producer that accepts gift card donations from people that allow us to provide things that they would naturally eat...like quail and rats (frozen and thawed of course) among other things.

 

[kari_dawn]

...and there is a lot of really expensive suplements that we provide in addition.

 

[redhen]

Hes beautiful.

Do you raise quail? (super easy to raise ) or rabbits, chickens, heck even mice/rats breed like crazy..... that would help cut down your food costs somewhat....

 

[kari_dawn]

well, most of our diet is donated (good thing too! We have around 30 bobcats in our program right now. Most of them are in the release program, a few in the education program, and a few in the sanctuary program). We have to be careful about feeding live...rehabbing predators puts us in a tough spot. We have to balance animal rights and allowing their wild instincts to kick in...we do not feed live, though we did raise some quail...no luck hatching the eggs...they never seem to live past two week old chicks...we are a wildlife center, so we also rehab other species...many of them are too injured for us to save...the ones that do not end up pulling through (especially squirrels and cotton tails, and other prey animals that stress really easily), and did not die of an illness, generally get fed back to the cats...they LOVE squirrels.